GD: Armed Police Batrider

[mirkvid]

http://ddp.doorsclosing.com/movies/other_people/

Here it is.

awesome, i gotta try that low rank start trick too. my current score is only ~2.7m and can get to the 2nd boss of highway. i've been playing this one off and on for about a year and feel like i've hit a wall with it. hopefully i can start improving.......after next weeks finals of course.

[Kaiser]

I need some tips on Highway with medalling, 99% of times i lost medal chain there because of too much bullets and big enemies, any tips from masters like plasmo or icarus?

[elfhentaifan]

Don't trigger the big tank for the extend if you feel to unsafe, most of the bullets are coming from him.
Also at the end of the stage let the 6 helicopters let pass you, maybe just shoot the first 2 down and let the others go

[charlie chong]

Don't trigger the big tank for the extend if you feel to unsafe, most of the bullets are coming from him.
Also at the end of the stage let the 6 helicopters let pass you, maybe just shoot the first 2 down and let the others go

deffo dodge the second copters without blowing em up. its quite hard to dodge the blue bullets without blasting them tho. my strategy is start on the far left at the same height as the copters then go straight/diagonally( diagonal only if im a touch late on my pattern ) down and across to the far right in one fluid sweepy movement ending up at the same place you started just at the opposite side...then do the same again but end up at the left side and then repeat as needed..you have to get the timing right tho
it's pretty hard keeping the medals up on this stage but i lose them more often on zenobia..probbly cos they never progress from small ones by that stage

[Gakidou]

Being able to start the game with low rank is great, but how do I enter the test menu on the PCB? I've tried the test button on both my superguns but nothing happens.

[charlie chong]

aah this tricked me for a while as i kept trying the cab test switch and looking on the board for one..
just put dip 1 to on.it's located in the first row of dipswitches and you will always start at the test menu when you turn it on!!

[Gakidou]

Thanks a bunch!

[Super X Gamma]

Wow, the test switch on the PCB is the best news I have heard in years. Now I finally have an excuse to start playing this again.

[Frederik]

Sorry if this has been brought up already, but does anybody know how much rank increase jacking up the firerate does? I do that on a regular basis (usually from 30 to 60 on most ships), and it seems to me that the additional firepower is made obsolete by a much sharper rank increase, especially on the bosses.

And yeah, that rank reset technique is great, last few times I played this game I loaded title screen savestate to load my old scores since my MAME Mac OS X version doesn´t save them automatically, so I kept playing with maxed out rank and wondered why the bosses are so incredibly pissed off. I just watched that survival-only no miss advance all clear vid with Tag-T on YouTube, and was surprised how tame everything seemed (especially the bosses went down much faster). Hopefully going to the text menu after loading the state I last played doesn´t reset the scores, or else I have to go back to the good old attract-mode looping...

I guess since people say that rank is so much lighter here than in Garegga made me forget that there is rank after all - I even thoughtlessly kept collecting surplus option and shot powerups

[Icarus]

Sorry if this has been brought up already, but does anybody know how much rank increase jacking up the firerate does? I do that on a regular basis (usually from 30 to 60 on most ships), and it seems to me that the additional firepower is made obsolete by a much sharper rank increase, especially on the bosses.

You sure it isn't this that's causing your sharper rank increases?

V V V

I guess since people say that rank is so much lighter here than in Garegga made me forget that there is rank after all - I even thoughtlessly kept collecting surplus option and shot powerups

... as I usually have my Shot Frequency at around 30 throughout the game, and have little to no problems dealing with bosses.

[Enhasa]

Rank still matters a lot, but unlike Garegga, it's kosher to up your firing rate. In fact, it's a good idea for boss milking. If you use Carpet, you can just go to town without dealing unwanted damage.

Also if you're used to Garegga, reverse what you know about collecting big shot and option powerups.

[Frederik]

Thanks for the speedy replies

You sure it isn't this that's causing your sharper rank increases?

I´m playing around with it on lowest rank and see how it is. As I said I played it on highest rank the last few times without really realizing it, and I thought that the shot increase was causing the pissed of rank - but as I know now I played on highest rank right from the start

Also if you're used to Garegga, reverse what you know about collecting big shot and option powerups.

Please elaborate!

Also, Tag T really is incredibly powerful, especially his options. Sadly he´s way to slow for medal chaining. In any case, I found that survival-only replay quite inspiring, since it reminded while obsessing over score increase, my survival was really lacking - I hardly ever got past the highway bosses in Advance mode... And surviving longer while ignoring some of the more dangerous tactics will increase my score much more because of that.

Adding to what I already mentioned, do ship types make a rank difference? I use to select my ships with C (usually Strawman, Maria or recently Shorty), and now I´m wondering if A, B or Start types might have slower rank increase, or if the slow down is the only drawback (it´s actually a plus for fast ships like Maria or Myamoto)? Just guessing... I´m picking this game up again after maybe a year of break in my serious play, so please bear with me

[Plasmo]

About big shot powerups:
To power up in Garegga it's better to collect the big icon to keep the rank down. It would be worse for rank if you actually collect like 5 small icons than 1 big. Even collecting them for their surplus value is actually worth it.
In Batrider it's the reverse.

[Frederik]

Wow, that completely new to me. Thanks!

[Icarus]

About big shot powerups:
To power up in Garegga it's better to collect the big icon to keep the rank down. It would be worse for rank if you actually collect like 5 small icons than 1 big. Even collecting them for their surplus value is actually worth it.
In Batrider it's the reverse.

Is that (highlighted comment) verified? And where?

[Enhasa]

Frederik, I just meant that in Garegga, you want to be wary of picking up option powerups, but big shot icons are "fine." Whereas in Batrider, you want to be wary of picking up big shot icons, but option icons are fine.

About ship types in Batrider, it doesn't affect the rank. A has a stronger main shot but weaker option shot. B is weaker main shot but stronger option shot. C makes both stronger but lowers your speed. S makes both weaker but increases your speed. AFAIK that's it.

[Frederik]

Ah, I see. Thanks.

[DMC]

Just two quick questions.

What impact have the "special option/shot power ups" on your rank? For instance, is it better to max your shot with this method rather than picking up small shot icons?

have any of you experienced that the helicopter in the first stage is absent? What determines that outcome?

[DEL]

DMC wrote;

What impact have the "special option/shot power ups" on your rank? For instance, is it better to max your shot with this method rather than picking up small shot icons?

Although I'm not sure about the exact rank increase, I would say its the best way if you're playing with a team and want to trigger as many extra bosses as possible on Normal, Advanced and Special courses.

have any of you experienced that the helicopter in the first stage is absent? What determines that outcome?

Yes many times and I'm not sure what causes this glitch either...?

[Enhasa]

DMC: Yes to the first question, although I don't remember the exact values.

I've had the helicopter be missing many times as well, but since it's rare I don't worry about it and never figured out what causes it. I think it might be one of those "too many objects on screen" things, so maybe it could happen if you trigger the birds at the last possible moment. I'm just making that up though, so that's more likely to be 100% wrong than correct.

[DMC]

I have not seen a connection with how late I trigger the birds (I've actually varied that timing a lot lately to see any difference in scoring), so I'm not so sure about that. It sounds logical though. Thanks for the confirmation on special power ups.

[Persondude]

I have not seen a connection with how late I trigger the birds (I've actually varied that timing a lot lately to see any difference in scoring), so I'm not so sure about that. It sounds logical though. Thanks for the confirmation on special power ups.

Yeah I dont think it really makes a diff when you trigger them

[Twiddle]

a heads up: jacking the fire rate up to 30+ does jack and shit to your rank increase, since every shot action does 2 or 4(max power) points of rank increase out of 15 million regardless of shot salvo or formation. hence why chip milking with car-pet is a worthwhile strategy.

[captpain]

Just two quick questions.

What impact have the "special option/shot power ups" on your rank? For instance, is it better to max your shot with this method rather than picking up small shot icons?

They increase per-frame rank, IIRC, so you should only trigger them once each to get the Highway bosses.

If you power up with small shots and limited Options, you'll be OK for rank with regular suicides. The biggest thing by far is only picking up extends when you have 1/3 ships.

edit: woah this is old

[RNGmaster]

The link to start at a low rank is broken. I can play this game at high rank up to Sky High, but then everything starts to fall apart. Help would be appreciated.

[BPzeBanshee]

The link to start at a low rank is broken. I can play this game at high rank up to Sky High, but then everything starts to fall apart. Help would be appreciated.

Boot into service mode via dipswitch settings (flick service mode on then reboot).
Then, make sure the '>' is at Game Mode and press START. This should work with any region version.

For Special Mode hold down all ABC buttons when loading, they must be pressed upon boot. Upon inserting coin put the cursor over Boss Rush mode and move left/right to select specific stage or boss. It will then play through what's selected at easiest and then hardest rank difficulty. You can also pause the game (by pressing START), view a bunch of variables I dont understand (C and arrow keys or something like that), and change bullet colours (I dont know the shorcuts for those). I think this only works with the Japan B version, I cant recall.